Tisane

Ptisan. A diluent drink which makes a great figure in the dietetic precepts of the ancients.

Towards the end of the week the girls complained of violent headaches and restless nights; and before Monday it was very obvious that they were all in a high fever. Tuesday Isabella was delirious, and Mademoiselle Virginie sent the maid to Covent Garden to buy some herbs, which, she said, would form a sovereign tisane.

“Neither,” said Poirot, “I shall go to bed and take a tisane. The expected has happened […].”

The sick people would take away also some herbs for their ptisan, some wine and other comforts […].

As soon as he had opened the door he worked his way back to his high-backed Queen Anne armchair, where he picked up his bone-china cup and took a sip of a rarefied tisane.